


A Ryder family tradition

by bioticfox (ayambik)



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Gen, Halloween
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-10 21:19:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16462520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ayambik/pseuds/bioticfox
Summary: Sara is a dedicated party planner.





	A Ryder family tradition

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EradiKate](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EradiKate/gifts).



> Gift work for EradiKate. I've never written an Andromeda fic before, so that was a hard challenge in itself. I hope you enjoy it.

_ 1st October 2820 13:00 hours _

Sara stared at the datapads scattered around her. Piles upon piles of research stacked precariously on every surface gave her work space a frenzied appearance, and though her organisation system seemed obvious to her, she didn't doubt everyone else would be dubious of the very existence of an organisation system to start with. She had research on local foods, an interesting paper from a Salarian scientist on the luminescence of certain Andromedan flora, and research into Angaran musicians. An article or five on nighttime phenomenon formed a small tower, along with some recordings of stories told on Voeld complete with pictures of dark creatures that hid in the ice, and some mood boards organised by colour schemes. Purple, black, and orange. She also had a memorable mission report where the team in question had been convinced they were being stalked by something large and nasty, only to find the vegetables growing in the woods were able to mimic sounds of predators through the opening and closing of their leaves. They'd been terrified until they had figured it out. Sara had giggled at the report, and began scheming.

The 1st day of October had started like most other days on the Tempest, with a scramble for the few unoccupied showers, and a fight over whose slice of toast just popped out of the machine. However, for Sara, it meant something else. October. Their first in Andromeda. Or at least the first she'd been awake for, and the first where Scott wasn't trying to make sure everybody didn't die. Back on Earth, back in the Milky Way, October had meant something to the Ryder family: party preparation. When Sara and Scott were young enough to still live with their parents, every spare hour had been devoted to planning, but even when they weren't living together, they would send communications back and forth, multiple times a day, discussing themes, decorations, locations, invites. Everything and anything they need to pull off the annual Ryder Halloween party at the end of the month.

Sara had taken it upon herself to start the planning early; it would take some extra effort this year after all. They weren't exactly familiar with the resources available to them, and she doubted the Angara would be stocking ready made decorations for the occasion. So she had made a head start to get to grips with the things they'd need to procure for the scariest Halloween party this side of the universe. She gave another cursory glance across her desk, before getting up and heading over to the pathfinders quarters. The door opened before she could do so much as tell SAM to let her in already.

"Scotty," she said, leaning to rest against the wall. "There you are. Just the brother I’m looking for."

Scott paused halfway out the door, sleep ruffled hair and still-dazed eyes telling Sara that's Scott's immediate agenda involved copious amounts of coffee. She hoped Suvi could synthesise caffeine before they ran out, or the whole team would suffer under the Ryders' caffeine withdrawals.

"Got any other brothers stashed away somewhere I should know about?"

"Gotta keep some spare, just in case I get bored of you," she smirked at him when he rolled his eyes in response and turned on her heel when he brushed by her, making a beeline for the kitchen. She jabbed him in the side just to get him to glare at her and took a closer look at her brother, at the bleary look and the now steaming mug of coffee. "Did you just wake up?"

"I might have," he said with a sniff, bringing the mug to his lips and heading out the door again. He scrunched his nose, either at the taste or the temperature, or maybe at both. The tempest kitchen was notoriously unreliable, despite all Gil's best efforts.

"Busy night?" she leered, willing to bet any money he'd had company in his quarters, and it was her official duty as sister to give him shit about it, however the fall of footsteps alerted her to someone else approaching, and instead she smirked and reached out to ruffle his hair, as they headed downstairs, Sara scaling the ladders first.

"Shut up," he said, glancing back to the pathfinder's quarters, doors still closed, before he followed his sister, sliding down with his coffee cup still in one hand.

"Anyway-"

"Good morning Ryder twins!" came the call, Liam interrupting them as they came to a stop where the team had assembled.

"Hey Liam. It's October 1st," Sara said, and out of the corner of her eye saw Scott narrow his at her.

"1st October, so it is. Is that meant to mean something to me? I've not forgotten anyone's birthday have I?" he joked, sipping from his own mug.

"Sacrilege!" She brought her hand up to her chest and gasped, feigning shock. "It means it's Halloween, Liam."

"Yeah. In… a month?" 

"Yes. This month. October. We need to start preparing for the party."

"We're having a party?" Liam perked up. As did most of the crew, though Cora and Lexi ignored Sara's theatrics.

"Yes, it's Ryder family tradition," she said. "We always have a Halloween party."

"We didn't have a party last year. I mean, you were sleeping, but Scotty here was up and about."

"Scott, you let Halloween go by without the annual Ryder family Halloween party?" She rounded on her brother, who had just handed off a datapad to Jaal and taken a large swig of coffee.

"It wasn't exactly the best time for a party," Scott said, coughing a little around his hastily drunk gulp. "What with the Kett, the Archon, trying to find us all a place to live etcetera etcetera. And it's not like we'd had a party for the previous 600 years anyway."

"Yada yada yada. It's ok guys.” She said, swatting Scott  on the arm. “This time you've got the fun twin awake. Ryder parties are legendary." 

"Ok, ok," Liam nodded. "I can get behind an excuse for a party."

"What do you need?" Vetra started scrolling through her omnitool, looking at supplies. "We can try source some items, but we don't exactly have a lot of resources at the moment."

"Maybe we can hold it on Prodromos? Use it as a morale building thing for people." Sara smiled, a little smug, and ignored her brother's sigh. It was all for show anyway. He loved Halloween just as much as she did.

"Or on Kadara. They know how to party at least," Peebee piped up. "Though they probably don't need the excuse to get drunk and rowdy."

"Can we do Bonfire night too? I always loved Bonfire night. You think we can find some fireworks?" 

The crew devolved into excited murmurs and Sara listened to all the ideas, things she never would have thought of on her own, things she didn't know about, couldn't have known about unless she's been awake. She didn't envy Scott having to do it all alone, but at least he'd had a team. 

“Thanks for helping guys,” she said to the room at large, meaning for more than just party planning 

“Hey, no problem,” Peebee elbowed Sara in the side as she leant against the table. “This should be fun.”

"We'll get right on it, Sara." Vetra mock saluted. "You can count on us. Meeting adjourned."

"I mean… yeah." Scott's voice dripped with sarcasm as the team turned around and excitedly shuffled out of the room. "We didn't actually talk about anything important, but sure. Meeting adjourned."

"Come on, Scotty. The infamous Ryder Halloween party isn't going to host itself." 

"Infamous. I like the sound of that," Liam said backing out of the door, the last one out. The door shut behind him and Sara turned to her brother and flung her arms around his shoulder. Scott sighed even as he grinned over at his sister. A party could be fun...


End file.
